In the growing world of the internet, the landscape is always changing for anyone who wants to have an effective market strategy. Medical practices aren’t exempt from the need to adapt to these changes. Even if you have developed a website for your business, you may be wondering what other methods you can choose to employ to create a more effective marketing environment for yourself. For your convenience, we have included a list of these methods below.
Localized Or National SEO
A large majority of consumers will research local medical professionals through their search engine of choice (usually Google). If you can optimize these results through SEO (search engine optimization) you are more likely to have your practice posted at the top of the list. Localized SEO is reliant on having a Google My Business account, and other factors. So make sure you’re registering your business through Google’s program. Your website should also have links to other local sites, and if you can obtain backlinks you should do that too. Backlinks are links that lead an audience back to your website, and if they’re local, you will generate local “authority” (or reliability in Google’s rankings).
You can also consider engaging in SEO in a larger platform, but this might not pertain to all medical professions. If you’re engaged in plastic surgery marketing, it’s likely your services won’t be offered in every town, and customers will need to travel to see you. In these instances, national SEO may be another alternative you are looking into. For medical professionals in more locally competitive niches, it may be better to focus on regional targets. National SEO operates similarly to local SEO with a few key differences. The more links and backlinks you have from and leading to high “authority” sites, the higher your ranking will be in most search engines.
Using Social Media Platforms
Yes, everyone is engaging on social media platforms these days even medical professionals. It’s best you choose one or two platforms such as Instagram or Facebook and commit to generating content for these sources. You can choose to pay for advertising, but that’s up to the discretion of the medical professional. Facebook’s advertising service can cost less than pay per click methods, so this might be a more attractive choice of advertisement. Social media offers a channel with which you can interact with your patients outside of the office and keep them informed about your practice. It also gives another medium where you can be found and rated by your previous customers.
Keeping An Email List
It’s funny to think that email is almost considered an archaic form of advertising along with conventional mail, but this is not the case. Email is a mode of communication where people are more likely to open and read a message when compared to a text message. On your website, you can have an optional signup newsletter that patients can choose to subscribe to. This reminds them of their experience with your practice and makes them more likely to continue choosing your services. It’s a low cost, low upkeep way of maintaining relationships, and because your patients are choosing to signup, you’re not needlessly harassing them.
